


All I Ask Of You

by Draco_sollicitus



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Divergence, Canon Universe, Creepy Behavior, DamereyDaily, F/M, Force Bond, Love Confessions, Phantom of the Opera AU, Phantom!Kylo, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:15:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22205458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: With Kylo Ren lingering like a phantom at the periphery of her life, Rey struggles with the Dark more than ever. Her fear of falling forces her to seek solitude, but luckily there's a member of the Resistance there to tell her she's not alone when she most needs to hear it...(quasi-Phantom of the Opera AU)Anywhere you go, let me go too. Love me; that's all I ask of you
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Comments: 19
Kudos: 95
Collections: Damerey Daily 2020





	All I Ask Of You

**Author's Note:**

> For the Damerey Daily Prompt (Prompt 10):
> 
> _Anywhere you go, let me go too. Love me; that's all I ask of you_
> 
> This changes the timeline of the films to make Rey of an age where she would have been preparing in the Force more//would have had an active teacher at Luke's temple. It also follows the headcanon (that the movies disregarded) that Rey was at Luke's temple and her memories were lost somehow after the attack on the temple.

Rey looked up to the blanket of clouds above her, breathing in through her nose, out through her mouth.

The galaxy spun around her, stars unseen; the small planet they were hiding on was constantly snowy, a novelty to Rey who’d only seen snow on Starkiller when the phantom of her youth had reappeared, ripping down the barriers she’d placed around her mind as a child to protect herself from the reality that her teacher, her friend, had slaughtered so many of her friends, so many younglings.

Rey had only been eight years old when her friend and would-be Master, Ben, turned on the Temple. He’d taught her so much in the Force, but had so cruelly turned from the Light, brought in by the promises of the Dark.

Now, she was nineteen years old, and Ben - now Kylo - nearly thirty. And since their destinies had tangled back together on Takodana, she might never be free of him.

“ _You need a teacher,”_ he’d whispered to her, stroking her hair back from her face. Her muscles had frozen in fear, but the dark corner of her heart that sometimes whispered to her had stopped and forced her to question whether or not she needed one with Master Luke gone.

Luke had also refused to teach her on Ahch-To, when the Bond between her and Kylo resurfaced powerfully. Now, whether or not she liked it, they were linked by fate or something as equally terrible, and she found herself unwillingly taught by his power in the Force.

And he controlled when he’d appear to her; he lingered in the shadows, lurked in her every dream. Kylo spoke to her across the Bond, and Rey ignored it the best he could - and yet he insisted she, or maybe even her soul, were calling to him.

Singing for him.

Rey wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed her eyes shut, her hand tight around the object Kylo had handed her today through the Bond:

_“This is for you.”_

_“I don’t want whatever it is,” Rey spat, wondering if she could start spitting venom like Suralinda. Gods, that would be an asset._

_“But, I picked it for you.” He reached out, and although Rey staggered back, his reach was longer, and he was more powerful than her. Kylo pressed it into her palm, dark eyes burning and fervent and tormented. “I remember how you loved flowers.”_

_He was gone before she could tell him he only knew that because he’d forced himself into her mind._

Rey looked down at the flower, the petals slightly crushed now: it was a flower she now knew was a rose, after asking Threepio what he thought it was. She supposed it was pretty, in a dull sort of way. Red, like blood, or the throne room she’d found herself fighting side-by-side with Kylo in, back when she thought she could save him, back when she thought it was her job to save him.

But he was lost to her. And the flower was merely a symbol of how easily he could get to her. How he could reach her through the Bond. The Darkness felt like walls pressing ever in on her, and Rey felt a tear slip out onto her cold cheek. She shivered.

“It’s a little chilly for walk, Sunshine.” Rey recognized the voice, and she heard him walking towards her, Resistance-issued boots crunching softly against the packed snow.. “Especially with no jacket.”

“Leave me alone,” Rey whispered. Poe Dameron had been so hurt by the Dark; carved open by it, and by the man who would have called himself her Master. She didn’t think she could bear it if the poison of her life hurt him again.

“...Okay.” His footsteps stilled. “I’ll go, if you tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m okay,” Rey lied. Her voice, the traitor, cracked. “I just need to be alone.”

“Why?”

“Because I deserve to be alone.” _You’re a nobody, you’re nothing._

_But not to me._

_You need a teacher._

“No one deserves to be alone,” Poe argued softly, and she turned to look at him, aware she must look a sight with her eyes red and snow melting in her hair. 

Poe was so beautiful, it hurt to look at him. He walked towards her again, down the steps of the temple they were housed in. “Rey, what happened?”

“Nothing.” She closed her eyes and half-turned from him. “Everything. I - I-” He waited for her to finish. “There’s this … awful darkness inside of me. And sometimes … I’m so afraid I’ll give into it. That I’m meant to be just like him; and even if I fight it and beat it… _he’s_ always there, waiting for me to slip. Waiting to hurt everyone I love.” She shook her head bitterly. “It’s best that I stay alone. Then the only person he can hurt is me.”

“All due respect, Jedi,” Poe said, still walking towards her. She opened her eyes and watched him as though in a trance. His brown eyes were warm but also powerful with something she didn’t know the name of. “That’s the … silliest thing I’ve heard you say.”

She scoffed, but Poe held out a hand to her.

“Come inside where it’s warm,” he urged.

“I should stay out here.” 

“Then I’ll stay out here with you.” She didn’t say anything to that; the idea was too tempting. Rey had always found Poe’s presence too soothing. “Don’t fight this alone. I’ll be here, beside you.”

“To guide me?” Rey asked, a little sharply. She’d had plenty of men try to do exactly that.

“To help you,” Poe corrected. He stopped, six feet short of her, hand still extended.

It looked so much like the mirror image of the red throne room - only in the white snow, the dark sky above, Poe’s eyes patient where the other’s had been wild - that her chest ached. 

“I only want to help you. To help you push past this. To see you’re not alone.”

Rey found herself walking toward him, her feet moving of their own volition. Her hand reached out to take his, and she didn’t realize when the rose she was holding slipped from her grip and hit the snow, silent, unheard.

“That’s all you’d want from me?” She asked when she’d taken his hand.

Poe pulled her in, pulled the scarf from his neck and wrapped it around hers. It was warm, soft - it smelled like him. Rey resisted the urge to bury her nose in it. 

“I might want more,” Poe admitted, ducking his head shyly. “But, uh, for now…” He shrugged out of his coat and threw it around her shoulders. “I want you to wear this.”

“But you’ll get cold,” Rey pointed out.

Poe gave her a little half-grin that made her stomach jump. “Small price to pay.”

“What do you mean, you might want more?” She circled back, and Poe snorted, as though unsurprised she’d be inquisitive. Maybe he wanted her to ask. Maybe he wanted to give her the option to ask. It was a nice thought.

“I might want … _more,_ ” Poe repeated. “I - I want to … go wherever you are, Rey.”

She looked up at the temple, where light was leaking out of the doors and windows, sprawling onto the snow as a promise of warmth. It was much colder outside, but Poe was out here anyway, so she wouldn’t be alone. 

“Why would you want to follow someone like me around?”

“Because.” Poe lifted one shoulder in a shrug, unbothered by the snow that was building up in his dark curls. “You’re someone like you.”

Rey tilted her head.

“I want to … I can see you struggle with the Dark,” Poe said, and Rey stiffened and moved to pull her hand away, but Poe held on tighter. “But you don’t have to struggle alone. Let me … let me help you. I’m just a pilot, sure, but … let me stand beside you. Let someone help you carry the load.”

“You’d want to be that someone?” Rey asked incredulously.

Poe nodded. “You don’t have to face him alone. I can … help. I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out. No matter what the task is, no matter how large, I’ll be there, for you. A shoulder to cry on, or a fellow soldier in the fight, or a safe harbor. Whatever you need, I’ll be that.”

“And … what would you want from me in return?” Her stomach felt funny. Not in a bad way, like she’d eaten too many wampa rats with Chewie. A nice way.

Poe turned pink and held her hand a little tighter. “It’s stupid,” he mumbled toward the snow.

“I doubt that. C’mon, tell me, flyboy.” She swung their hands back and forth, feeling as though they were in their own, untouchable, private bubble, out in the snow, in the dark, the galaxy spinning around them.

“Could you…” He coughed, and looked up through his lashes. “Would you ever … be able to love someone like me?”

Rey was stunned silent, and Poe clearly took that the wrong way.

“It’s just … I know I’m old. And tired. And grumpy. But gods, Rey, I was done for when you showed up on Crait. One look, and I knew. The last year’s only solidified it as I’ve watched you grow and learned about everything that makes you, you. You’re the most incredible person I’ve ever met, and I love you. Would it … would it be impossible for you to ever love me back?”

“No.” He froze, slightly, watching her face. “No, it’s … I think it’s quite possible.”

“Oh.” Poe smiled, wildly, looking so radiantly happy she didn’t know what to do. “Oh, kriff, that’s - that’s amazing-”

“I love you now,” she added, “In case that wasn’t clear.”

“Okay.” he nodded, then nodded more rapidly. “Okay, that’s - that’s really - oh, kriff that’s - uhm.” He laughed and so did she. “So yeah, that’s - that’s about it. I’ll… do whatever I can to help you. Fly across the galaxy. Lay down my life-”

“- I hope it doesn’t come to that-”

“-but if you love me … even for a minute. For a day … that’s all I could ever ask of you.”

Rey leaned in and kissed him sweetly, warmed fully, and not by the jacket he’d let her borrow; Poe kissed her back happily, wrapping his arms around her and making her feel safe and secure for the first time in a long time.

They were so focused on one another that they didn’t notice the Force Bond open, or the figure of Kylo Ren lurking behind the steps of the temple, watching them kiss with an inhuman snarl on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> fun fact I have an *actual* phantom of the opera AU that takes place in Coruscant at their failing opera house, and yes, yes all the characters are exactly who you think they are, and yes, I'm very much unsympathetic towards the phantom


End file.
